Poland Unveils Europe’s Tallest Virgin Mary Statue

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A 55.6-metre (182ft) statue of the Virgin Mary, believed to be the tallest of its kind in Europe, has been formally unveiled in the small Polish village of Konotopie.

The concrete statue stands roughly two double-decker buses taller than Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer monument, although it remains considerably shorter than a 98-metre Virgin Mary statue in the Philippines.

A local bishop consecrated the sculpture during a ceremony on Saturday, deliberately timed to coincide with the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The unveiling comes as the Catholic Church’s influence on public life in Poland continues to decline, particularly among younger people in urban areas.

The statue stands in an isolated field far from Poland’s major population centres. A local millionaire couple commissioned the monument, explaining its unusual rural location.

During Saturday’s ceremony, two helicopters flew over the site and released rose petals onto the statue, which depicts the Virgin Mary standing inside a large crown with her arms extended.

Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski, who consecrated the statue, told those gathered that many people today “look only to the earth, focused on themselves.” He said the figure encourages people to “raise our gaze upwards to God and heaven,” according to Poland’s PAP news agency.

Poland remains overwhelmingly Catholic, but many younger Poles, particularly in cities, have increasingly distanced themselves from the Church and its traditions.

Among those attending the ceremony was Lech Wałęsa, the former leader of the Solidarity movement that helped end communist rule in Poland and the country’s first democratically elected president.

Wałęsa famously wore a Virgin Mary pin while campaigning and has credited his Catholic faith with playing a major role in his struggle against communism.

“I started with the Virgin Mary and I end with the Virgin Mary,” the 82-year-old told the Associated Press.

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